Intex Osaka, 19th January 2025
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Two conventions at once in the 'ole Intex this time! Three actually, because there was some board game trade show going on too. Of course, I only visited the two events dedicated to comics. Also their combined size was still smaller than last week's Super Comic City 30.
I intended to get there for 11:00, when Comitia opened, so of course I arrived at, er, 12. Also on the train some "care in the community" bloke was singing the word "Tokushima" to the tune of Battle Hymn of the Rupublic most of the way (probably known to him as "the Yodobashi Camera music"). When he wasn't finding the word "sausage" the funniest thing in the world, anyway. January 19th is also the day Yumeshima Station opened, which is a new stop beyond Cosmosquare on the Osaka Subway Chuo Line. This meant a bunch of train nerds were going over there to see that (the ones who weren't exhibiting at comitore, anyway. There was a whole section for trains!). The days of a guaranteed sit down after Intex (or visa renewal) are over!
Anyway, I got there, and walked over all the bridges to avoid road crossings (I found an even better route on the way back!) and arrived at the site. I paid for a Comic Treasure catalogue, then immediately turned away and went over to the Comitia entrance, paying for that catalogue and going in.
Unlike the last two cons, I had money! Time to load up! I took a long stroll around Comitia's comics section (just under a half of the con is usually dedicated to illustration books, buying a few here and there if they were the "one copy-bon being sold by a shy girl with a bowed head", but mostly I was just on the lookout for interesting stuff.
A cut above the usual copy-bon. But you get the idea... I was also looking for the circle who did that "most adowabaww yuri comic ever". They weren't there again. By circle I mean "couple". Maybe they broke up and aren't doing those comics any more. I hope not, I want my muck! I got to the end of the comics (and the small section of "other stuff"-travel, photography doujins etc), and then began buying in earnest! Once again, I'd not managed to get loads of coins in the week leading up to it (apart from just plumb forgettin', my new job is super busy), so I had to hit bigger and more organised tables with my sen notes, and go to others with the coins. I checked out a few books, including them lone copy-bons, but had to come back and buy them later on. Often finding the table had got busy in my absence! This meant many rows got multiple "passes", and sometimes I had to agnoise over buying some more expensive books. One guy made music, not (or maybe in addition to, he was busy) comics, and was flogging a vinyl record! But it was a bit of a stretch at ¥4600. There was also some hard BL, which was labelled "R18", but wasn't in the actual "adult" section. Gay sex isn't counted as sex in Japan, so comics can show way more without getting adult ratings. Anyway, I grabbed some up regardless. One table even ID'd me! Still got it.
When I was 17, any lad that had one of these had it made! Time was getting on, so I strolled over to Comitore and nabbed some pictures of the car show. There was also a wall o' pictures, where you could draw on post-it notes and stick them up. It was too busy, though, so I passed it by. In warmer weather Comitore has two car shows inside, and cosplay shootin' outside. But as it's January, they had the cosplay ara at the far end from the cars. The SDF also had a small show there, with this APC and some dirtbikes you could get your picture taken on.
There was also another art wall (this one people were drawing directly on), and various big standees of anime characters scattered around. I couldn't get pics, because this event full of people selling lolicon porn versions of popular anime is extremely concerned that your photos may inadvertently capture the pages of this, and thus infringe somebody's copyright! Comitore (well, this one, at least) has caught a bit of the Comic City disease of early-closing tables, also it was mostly doujinshi of anime I don't watch / have never heard of, so I didn't actually buy much. However, I did discover it has a small section for originals, too. I saw some of the Kansai Comitia regulars there! One book I did buy was being hawked by a very enthusiastic woman. As I was buying it her tone suddenly changed and she was warning me about something. I didn't know what, and it looked hot, so I parted with me ¥500 regardless. When I got home I found out it's actually about a woman using tampons as tiny dildos, then banging on her period because they enhance the length of the guy's dick. Like ya do.
Now that I look it says タンポン right there, so I only have myself to blame... It was about 20 minutes to the end of both cons, so I decided to have a last quick nip around Comitore and get back to Comitia in time for the usual ending-announcement applause. On the way I decided "sod it", and splashed out on a new hat.
The American Way shirt was possibly a bit too subtle, now THIS is a gaijin repellent! I got back to Comitia in time, and mooched around the illustration books area for 10 minutes or so until the end was announced, and took off. I also went into a side room to get some cola. This bunch of yanks comes in going "I heard there's another one of these in Tokyo, only it's even bigger and even more guh-ross". Heh, if they think Comitia is "guh-ross", they should have crossed the plaza and tried Comitore on for size.
...and at least it was decent weather for it. Yeah yeah, how about the haul?
Not a full look this time, just the selected highlights! Instant Hero
An A4-sized copy-bon with a pretty straightforward tale of superheroing. A boy has a pet... er... thing, which lets him turn super-powered and fight a monster. It uses loads of hatching instead of tone, which is pretty cool-looking.
Yasashii something something-no-naka UP!
A high school or university student faps to the thought of being rodgered by his friend while cross-dressing. Turns out his friend likes him too, and faps after swimming. The "Up" in the title is sometimes used to mean the first volume of two or three. I need to find this circle again and see if they get it on in a later book.
Revolutionaire
A story about revolutionaries in a vaguely Frenchish fantasy world. Only the uniforms, weapons etc look more like the era of the Russian revolution.
Sora (w)o Tobumasho
A CUTE comic about CUTE witches in a CUTE fantasy world which is CUTE. The first ever doujin I bought from an artist at a con in Japan was called "The Lifestyle of the Vampire", just because it reminded me of Jenika Ioffreda's Vampire Freestyle, a perennial presence (or, at least, it was in 2011) at UK small press cons. This one is actually a lot closer to the style of Vampire Freestyle. This appears to actually be book 3 in the series. I didn't know at the time, I just bought the one with the cutest cover.
Dead End Dreams
Created by a circle called REM. I heard they put a man on the moon, but I'm not sure I beleive it. Anyway it's about a kid who had to murder his abusive mother, then he's grown up and is a badass who beats up rapists. Then somebody apparently sticks him up with a gun, only it's not a gun... and then it's to be continued.
Ciel de Gris 1
By Maimaikaiko. Fantasy stuff with some nice less-is-more detailing for the clothing folds and wrinkles on the faces of older characters. It reminds me of British small-press manga, actually. Vaugely LOTR-ish fantasy filtered through Ruroni Kenshin, Inuyasha or whatever was their stock-in-trade. Really nice cover stock, anyway!
Beniya Boutan Wa Yamete Oke
The spacing of the last part of that name was just guessed, if I'm gonna be honest. I can't find a translation for "Beniya", though I've seen it around. It literally means "crimson shop"? It seems to refer to small cafes and such. Anyway, it's about a bunch of people who work in a tea room and have a band. They play a gig at a small underground (literally, not figuratively) bar.
Bombs Away Ep.2
I bought episode 1 some time ago. That was well-printed, had many pages and cost money. This is laser-printed, short and was free... or very cheap. I don't remember now. Anyway it's about hot furry ladies and guns.
Igyuu Shiniki
A long-haired high school girl who likes horror books is dared to explore an abandoned hospital / school after dark.She encounters a huge, otherworldly abomination which is about to smoosh her between it's hands, but she gets away, a large part of her hair 'tearing off' in the process. The next day she has short hair with dyed ends.
Something WA Tampon GA Something-i
The "tampons as sex toys" one. Let's not 'ang abahht...
Hoshikuzu Waku Sen
Cute little girls sail on a ship, they also fight and capture varied monsters. It's like One Piece meets Pokemon meets... er, a Doujinshi from a series I bought in Tokyo once, about cute little girls sailing the Mikasa. That one was bilingual, and also in English(ish), but this one ent. This one is in full colour, though, so it has that going for it. It was a bit expensive, as doujins go (or maybe it was just near the end of the day, don't remember now). They also had a lore book, with character and monster profiles.
2 Colors
More of an art book, but I like it. It was printed with a Risograph, which is a type of super fast, cheap to run and highly uncooperative photocopier, well-known to any gaijin who has done an ALT stint, no doubt. Risographs are usally strictly one-colour machines, but I guess it's possible you can get red ink for one, not only black, so this could have been assembled from two seperate pieces of artwork, which mesh when printed - like a modern Ukiyo-e!
Apple Cinnamon 2
Nice glossy-covered squarebound book about school romance.
Misutaa Somethingmori-kun wa Kakkoii(?)
A sparkly-eyed romance. The interior paper stock is pretty crappy, but the cover has a lot of spot-metallics, the text and the sparkle on his teeth are metallic! The inner art is great - an undercover pro?
Ningyo Hime no Majo
A cute story about a girl who meets a mermaid, who is also a witch. She gets briefly turned into a mermaid herself, too. It reminds me of a British small press comic I read once... though the only thing they have in common is a mermaid XD
Ender's Dance Episode 0
Set in June 3063, the main character is a "magical girl" who fights monsters in a city. The city itself is on a giant platform high in the sky... presumably the land below is full of monsters. Also somebody is in a wheelchair... as if people in the 31st century will ever see a wheelchair outside a museum.
Instructor Massage something
Part of a very strange subgenre of hentai where the characters wear swimsuits at all times, but also have sex. They move the suits out of the way, right? Nope, far too realistic! The swimsuits seem to be made of unstable molecules, and conform perfectly to the contours of the body, and can also stretch an unlimited amount. So the guy's trunks perfectly form around his dick like a condom, and he can push the crotch of the woman's suit inside like a, er, ... the "lady condom" I've forgot the name of and am too lazy to look up. It's a very wierd fetish, and I say this as somebody into one-pieces. I have three comics in the genre now, this one, and two I bought in a secondhand bookshop ages ago. Also all three of the comics in this genre have really good art. Just draw nudity willya?
Jinsei no Saigo no Otonari no Ojisanto
About a lesbian couple with gigantic tits. Labelled "18+" but, honestly, it mostly looks like a romantic comedy with wardrobe malfunctions and embarrasments. Only about a quarter of the pages are sexy.
Overly-long Title! 3
A human is staying with aristocratic elves. Maybe a human prince meant to marry an elf princess? Anyway he and a hot blonde elf price rail each other in the shower. A haughty advisor / butler type doesn't seem too happy about it. Maybe he wants some humie ass for himself.
Scramble X Summary 2
Seems to be about a high school couple with a loud girl and shy boy. It has yonkoma gag strips as well as longer material, drawn by multiple artists. I got this at Comitia, so it's a collaborative effort with some circle's original characters. Usually this sort of anthology is reserved for fanbooks of existing characters.
Niwa no Bara ga Shoujo ni Koisuru Hanashi
Reminds me of Mrs Gaskell's Garden, which I bought at a previous con. Only in this one a rose in a garden morphs into a humanoid form because it's fallen in love with a girl. Like ya do. Anyway it has tea with her, but then she apparently introduces her boyfriend, and it runs back to the garden. Apparently it's the ghost of a boy from Victorian-ish times. Also there's a cat.
Greatman
Typical Japanese superheroing. A guy who seems to be a member of some anti-monster secret agency is also able to turn into a giant greature himself and fight monsters directly. He looks like a giant version of The Guyver.
Yura Haato Minon something something.
A girl befriends a kind of watery fairy creature she finds washed up on a beach. The fairy "speaks" a kind of Morse Code, mapped to katakana, which has a guide at the start of the book. Also this one fits very snugly in it's bag. The girl selling it took ages to squeeze it in there, I was afraid to take it back out!
Mini Itoshiteru Tetsutaetai
No idea if I've spaced that title correctly. Anyway it's set in a fantasy world where warriors fight people who get possessed by demons. It starts out looking kind of jolly, but then a guy has to kill his own mother when she gets possessed.
Meishou no Wakui no Hihou ni
This one's also tightly crammed in a bag, with a cute stamp on a paper sticker over the seal, so I don't want to take it out :s, Mind you, I do have a photo of the cute stamp... Anyway, something about elves and gnomes.
Ganbare! Okutsu-san!
If San and Tray were wrestlers, it would be this.
Well, this little lot took me way too long to write. Next stop, the report on Yonkoma Komachi 25! Hopefully that won't be as long. I'm going to be very broke from now on (March 2025), so no more cons or otaku bars. At least that means I can get some comic making done! |
